Hatred Just Like a Bond
by FemaleSpock
Summary: Love had never been enough to keep them together; hatred was the only gravity permanent enough to keep them bound. Aarch/Artegor.


Hatred Just Like a Bond

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Galactik Football and I make no money from this fanfiction. **

**Set sometime after Season 3.**

"Aarch, so good to see you."

The words feel like poison in his mouth, leaving a familiar, bitter aftertaste. He'd lived this scene so many times before but it's just as frustratingly exhilarating as ever, he'd forgotten how good it actually felt.

Aarch raised eyebrow, catching the tone in Artegor's voice that he knew all too well.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to tell me what it is you want? Perhaps you want to give in now; you know the Shadows are jus going to crush your pathetic little Snow Kids in the final."

It's like a script he's following; he doesn't even have to think about it, it's just there as it's always been. Hating Aarch just feels right, natural, more natural than redemption, being the good guy. No, that part is Aarch's and no hero is complete without his very own villain, an arch-nemesis.

That's where Artegor comes in.

"You know you'll never win, the Snow Kids have won the Cup twice now, through team-work and co-operation- two things you know nothing about."

There, that's it. Artegor smirks, such self-confidence from Aarch was normal, going back to normal. No more mid-life crisis, crying and whinging all over the place. No more self-indulgent self doubt or losing his way.

They were both back now, restored.

"It didn't have to be like this, I thought you had changed," Aarch continues, moralising. And of course he'll try to bring Artegor out of the Smog induced hate-filled haze, but he doesn't mean it. He needs Artegor to stay there so everything can be right again.

It hadn't been hard to go back on the Smog, it didn't hurt either. His body could absorb it just as easily as he ever could, it felt good, he felt powerful again. And as for his mind, well, the Smog was welcome to that too.

No-one had ever told him how boring, how mundane it was living without Smog, caring about the people around you. It was unbearable. The Smog had embraced him, rapped him in inky darkness and made him wonder why he had ever thought to live without it.

"Changed into what, your little lap dog? Think again, Aarch, it's not in my nature to play second fiddle."

Aarch glowered and said nothing, still looming there over Artegor's desk, a malignant shadow.

Artegor continued instead of waiting for an answer that wouldn't come. "I suppose you're feeling abandoned, well _good_, now you know how it feels. And you're not very good at hanging onto people are you? Did I hear rumours that Rocket's run off _again_?"

Aarch lunged forward, pulling him roughly by the collar, so that he's positioned awkwardly leaning across the desk, his face just inches from Aarch's so that he can feel his warm breath on his skin.

He made his own move, the inevitable one, and presses his lips to Aarch's own, in what would be a kiss but for that it lacks any tenderness. Aarch immediately pushed him back, causing him to stumble backwards into the chair he had been sitting on, in a rather ungraceful manner.

He laughed emptily, for what else was there to in response to seeing Aarch wipe his mouth with such a look of revulsion on his face.

"I love Adium," Aarch said, sternly, more for his own benefit than for Artegor's.

But who'd been talking about love? Not Artegor because he knew all too well that love didn't work for the two of them, it was never enough to keep them to together; just enough to tear them apart.

It had done so back when they had been together on the Shadows, the only real time they were together. His hatred for Aarch had been the only gravity holding them together, keeping them from being just two people who happened to share a past but lacked a future together.

Only neither of them had realised that. Aarch had foolishly gone to 'save him', to redeem him. They became friends again and he thought all was well again. It was only a matter of time before it all went to hell again.

Only this time it was Aarch's turn to hate Artegor, Aarch's turn for paranoia and that thrilling downward spiral. Of course it all cumulated in violence, there was never another way with them.

Artegor couldn't stand seeing him like that; it wasn't the Aarch that he had known. It wasn't the Aarch that he had watched for so long when he was a teenager, waiting, fantasising about in every minute of every day. Not the Aarch he had loved or hated.

They'd drifted so much by becoming friends that getting it all back was too painful, too slow.

He couldn't stand any of it. So somewhere along the line, he'd made the decision to go back to how he had been. They'd both been better off, it was the only way to stay together, to be themselves.

"I'm going, Artegor," Aarch said, steadfastly, doing exactly as he had just promised. There's a purpose in his stride, he walks tall and with decision.

Artegor knows he'll be back though, this way he'll always be back, he can feel the next confrontation boiling in his blood, like a beautiful symphony.

They'd be together forever.

**That's it for this fic! This fic was very inspired by the song 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division. Please review; I love reviews, they make my day!**


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